This essay tries to prove that archaeology as a science, can be useful as a tool for the creation of sustainable agriculture. Case studies of China´s ancient and modern rice and wheat agriculture are used as an example of how archaeology can fulfill this role. Archaeological data were collected for the ancient types of agriculture in China between 4000 BC and 500 AD, with the intension of analysing it using a sustainability perspective. This period had to be extended for the wheat agriculture to 600 AD. To aid this analysis, a definition of sustainable agriculture was made. Using this definition, a decision could be made whether the ancient types of agriculture could be considered sustainable or not and why. The same analysis was made for the modern types of agriculture, to be compared in the coming discussion. None of the agricultural types could be considered sustainable, although the ancient types were quite close to passing the test. What could be learned from the ancient types of agriculture are also included in the discussion. This is done by discussing current problems China faces concerning their rice -and wheat agriculture in comparison with archaeological data about the ancient types. The conclusion is that archaeological data can be useful in a few ways in this matter and archaeology as a science could be useful when developing sustainable agriculture.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-171462 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Karlsson, Martin |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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